Overview
The Textile Art and Fashion department encompasses over 5,000 objects from Asia, Europe, and North and South America, and range from archaeological textiles to contemporary works of art in fiber and fashion from the 18th century to today.
The origins of the department date back to 1927 with the gift of a Saltillo serape and a Kashmir shawl to the museum. Over the ensuing decades the diversity of the collection grew dramatically under the tenure of several curators, alternately specializing in textiles and fashion, starting with the appointment of the first curator, Lydia Roberts Dunham in 1955. Following major acquisition and publication support by the Neusteter Fashion, Costume and Textile Institute starting in 1962, Imelda Gatton DeGraw was the curator from 1965 to 1992.
In 2012, the Avenir Foundation endowed the department, which allowed for the remodeling of the sixth-floor textile art and fashion gallery, which was completed in 2013 and includes the PreVIEW textile conservation lab and the Nancy Lake Benson Thread Studio. In 2015, Florence Müller became the current curator and has since successfully grown the fashion collection through international and local acquisitions.
Highlights
Perhaps the two best known areas of the textile art department are its internationally exhibited and widely published American quilt collection and its extensive holdings of late Qing Dynasty Chinese court robes and textiles.
This diverse department, however, contains a wide-ranging scope from art of the ancient Americas and Coptic archaeological textiles to contemporary works of art in fiber and overlaps culturally and/or chronologically with the departments of Asian art, art of the ancient Americas, Latin American art, painting and sculpture, Western art, and modern and contemporary art. Objects under its curatorial charge include all textiles in the Denver Art Museum except those in our Indigenous Arts of North America, African, and Oceanic collections—stewarded by the Native arts department—textiles and rugs in the Herbert Bayer collection, and certain contemporary art that utilizes textiles and/or textile techniques.
Recent acquisitions include contemporary fashion from designers from the turn of the century through today, and over 100 fashion illustrations by artist, Jim Howard. Among the developing areas of the collection include fashion not only designed by famous couturiers, but from the collection of prominent women including the Baroness of Rothschild, Catherine Deneuve, and Catherine "Deeda" Blair.
Specific collection highlights include:
- An internationally recognized collection of more than 300 American quilts. These include examples made and donated by Charlotte Jane Whitehill (1866-1964). Also notable are the mid-19th century quilts; crazy quilts; and Amish and Mennonite quilts.
- More than 100 American coverlets representing overshot, double cloth, and Biederwand techniques and including significant gifts from both Mrs. S. Effie Parkhill and Stewart and Carol Strickler.
- The Julia Wolf Glasser collection, given by Mr. and Mrs. Raymond L. Grimes, comprises more than 100 samplers, dating from the 18th and 19th centuries and made in Europe, North and South America.
- The Charlotte Hill Grant collection of more than 600 Chinese court costumes and accessories—primarily late Qing Dynasty—acquired by Mrs. Grant in China in the 1920s and 1930s, and subsequently gifted to the museum by her children, James P. Grant and Betty Austin Grant, in 1977.
- Ecclesiastical vestments and textiles from the Renaissance to the 1900s, particularly the gift of Rev. John Krenzke of 19th- and 20th-century vestments.
- A growing collection of contemporary art in fiber including works by Mark Adams, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Lia Cook, Carol Eckert, Sheila O’Hara, and Carol Shinn. As well as rare early work by artists Olga de Amaral, Marian Bijlenga, Nick Cave, and Lenore Tawney among others, which were gifted in 2019 from the private collection of the founder of Friends of Fiber International, Camille Cook.
- Peruvian cultures, including the Chavín, Moche, Nasca, Wari, Chancay, Chimu, and Inca are well represented in the Art of the Ancient Americas portion of the textile collection.
- A collection of contemporary fashion from designers working in Paris in the 1980s and 90s, including Azzedine Alaïa, Anne-Marie Beretta, Rei Kawakubo (Comme des Garçons), Helmut Lang, Martin Margeila, Issey Miyake, Thierry Mugler, Kansai Yamamoto, and Yohji Yamamoto.
- A collection of over 100 works on paper by award-winning artist Jim Howard, showcasing Howard’s four-decade long fashion illustration career featuring advertising campaigns for legendary American department stores including: Neiman Marcus, Bonwit-Teller, and Bullocks which reflect the golden age of the American department store fashion throughout four decades from the 1950s to the 1980s.
Department Staff
Florence Müller, Avenir Foundation Curator of Textile Art and Fashion
Since September 2015, Florence Müller has assumed the role of the Denver Art Museum’s Avenir Foundation Curator of Textile Art and Fashion. She was previously the Director and Curator of Union Française des Arts du Costume at the Musée des Arts de la Mode at the Louvre in Paris.
She is a highly regarded fashion and art historian, and a renowned consultant for various luxury brands and haute couture houses in France and abroad. She has curated more than 100 exhibitions worldwide. Müller has published more than 30 books and countless exhibition catalogs and articles as a freelance journalist for various magazines in France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and the United States. She has also taught fashion extensively for over 30 years as the professor of the esteemed culture of fashion program at the French Institute of Fashion.
Jane Burke, Curatorial Fellow
Jane Burke obtained a bachelor’s in fine art with an emphasis on painting from the University of Colorado at Boulder and received an interdisciplinary master’s degree in Asian art history and Chinese language from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She held curatorial and collections management positions at the Honolulu Museum of Art, The Contemporary Museum, and The East West Center Gallery in Honolulu from 2006 to 2013. Burke is currently the Textile Art and Fashion Curatorial Fellow at the Denver Art Museum and has worked on numerous textile and fashion exhibitions since 2014 including: First Glance—Second Look, Creative Crossroads, Shock Wave: Japanese Fashion Design 1980s-90s, Drawn to Glamour: Fashion Illustrations by Jim Howard, Dior: From Paris to the World, Paris to Hollywood, and Suited: Empowered Feminine Fashion.
Courtney Pierce, Curatorial Assistant
Courtney Pierce is the Curatorial Assistant for the department of Textile Art and Fashion at the Denver Art Museum. Before joining the department in October 2021, Pierce worked for many years as a clothing buyer and visual merchandiser for a fashion company based in Los Angeles, California. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in art history from the University of Colorado Denver, and her master’s degree in Art History from the University of Denver. Pierce has previously held internships in the Modern and Contemporary art department of the Denver Art Museum as well as with the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, where she served as a research assistant.
Stefania Van Dyke, Associate Director, Interpretive Engagement
Stefania Van Dyke is the Associate Director, Interpretive Engagement at the Denver Art Museum. Most recently, she was interpretation lead for Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature, and for previous projects like Star Wars™ and the Power of Costume, Brilliant: Cartier in the 20th Century, and Wyeth: Andrew and Jamie in the Studio. Stefania is overseeing the reconceptualization of the Thread Studio, an exploratory space adjacent to the Textile Art and Fashion gallery. She has her bachelor's from Columbia University, master's in art history from the University of Chicago, and master's in education in museum education from Bank Street College of Education.
Collection Highlights
Charlotte Jane Whitehill
James Koehler
Olga de Amaral
Woman’s Court Robe
About 1875, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
China
Silk with metal thread
70 in. w x 53 in. l (177.80 cm x 134.62 cm)
Neusteter Textile Collection: Gift of Nancy Lake Benson and Bruce Benson
1986.157
The twelve symbols of ancient imperial authority, arranged in three tiers of four--at the neck opening, waist and knees--express the emperor’s imperial authority and qualities as well as his responsibilities to the people he ruled. Originally only the emperor could use the twelve symbols. By the 19th century, however, they also appeared on the robes of the empress, dowager empress and the heir apparent. This robe’s bright yellow ground identifies it as being made for a member of the imperial family. Bats carrying peaches fly near the gold wanshou character, a favorite motif of the Dowager Empress Cixi, wishing the wearer happiness and a long life of ten thousand years. Amid the waves are the Eight Buddhist Precious Things.
Comme des Garcons
Comme des Garçons
Jacket and Skirt
Spring–Summer 1997 collection, “Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body”
Nylon/polyurethane stretch gingham with padding
Neusteter Textile Collection at the Denver Art Museum: Purchased with funds from various donors by exchange, 2016.50A–B
Christian Dior
Untitled
Christian Dior Original in Canada
Exclusive with Holt Renfrew & Co., Ltd.
Spring-Summer 1953
Silk satin dress with cut-velvet roses
Neusteter Textile Collection at the Denver Art Museum: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Campbell, 2017.352A-C
Anne-Marie Beretta
Anne-Marie Beretta
Dress
1989
Linen
Neusteter Textile Collection at the Denver Art Museum: Purchased with funds from various donors by exchange, 2016.68
See more Textile Art and Fashion
Browse objects from the Textile Art and Fashion collection in our online collection.
Related Exhibitions
Don't miss these current and upcoming exhibitions related to the artworks and objects from this collection.
Featured Articles
Dive deeper into the stories behind some of the artworks in the collection by reading through articles written by our curators, conservators, and museum staff.

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Learn More about Denver Fashion Illustrator Jim Howard (Video)

New on the DAM Calendar: Textile Talks & Workshops

Final Weeks to See Sleight of Hand

Spun is So Big You Can’t See It in One Visit

Blue Jeans: Iconic Western Duds
Publications
Starting in 2013, the Textile Art and Fashion department has produced several “companion guides” to exhibitions which have highlighted strengths of the permanent collection, the first covering the Charlotte Hill Grant Collection which consists of late-Qing Chinese court robes and accessories. The second companion guide is a survey of nationally-recognized eighteenth century to contemporary American quilts. The department’s most recent publication focuses on contemporary fashion acquisitions made in conjunction with current curator, Florence Müller’s inaugural exhibition in 2016.
Alice Zrebiec, Threads of Heaven: Silken Legacy of China’s Last Dynasty. Denver Art Museum, 2013.
Alice Zrebiec, Companion to First Glance~Second Look: Quilts from the Denver Art Museum Collection. Denver Art Museum, 2014.
Florence Müller with biographies by Jane Burke, Shock Wave: Japanese Fashion Design, 1980s—90s. Denver: Denver Art Museum, 2016.

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The Martin Building Project
The gallery for this collection is housed inside the newly renovated Martin Building. Standing seven stories tall, the Martin Building is home to collection galleries, a conservation laboratory, interactive classroom space, a family activity center, two restaurants, and the brand new Anna and John J. Sie Welcome Center. It reopened to the public on October 24, 2021.